In the last week, the UK has been rocked by widespread violence and looting. Various commentators have remarked that these are not “riots” proper; the looters had no political cause. It was an irreligious, selfish underclass who saw an opportunity to “fill their boots”; and they took it.
Earlier today I was reading A N Wilson (formerly an outspoken and public opponent of Christianity, who in more recent times has recanted his atheism). In his article entitled “Legacy of a society that believes in nothing”, Wilson says: “At the nuttier fringes of the chattering classes there are those, like the geneticist Richard Dawkins and the journalist Christopher Hitchens, who actually believe that religion is a mental poison responsible for all the evils in the world.”
This provoked me to head over to RichardDawkins.Net to find out what commentary he-who-doesn’t-exist was giving on the looting. How would the one who blames religion for everything find a way to blame religion for all these selfish genes running amok?
What did I find? Nothing. It seems that as far as RichardDawkins.Net is concerned, nothing happened worth commenting on. Did I fail to look in the right place?
I dropped by the National Secular Society, for their response. How would those who believe that godlessness is the answer to society’s problems comment upon these events? By complete silence, as far as I could see.
How about the British Humanist Society?. Anything to say? Nope.
Anyone know where to get incisive atheist commentary on the British disturbances? I don’t. Looks like the same old story – atheism is all very good, as long as we’re all sitting in comfy armchairs. Once the real world intervenes, however, not so useful…